Ch05: Footnotes
Public Transport
Social Exclusion
Loss of Function
Riches To Rags
Halved Food Costs
Luxury/Necessity
No Maintenance
Domestic Finances
Family Profile
Tools of My Trade
Costs of Education
Destitution's Door
Keeping Warm
Tax Figures
My computer is the basic tool of my trade. Without it I would have no means of keeping my skills up to date. My institute memberships are my credibility. Their absence would make it even more difficult to get work. I would then be left with no prospect other than to retire gracefully into permanent poverty.
Before I became unemployed I was self-employed for 15 years. I had no employer to provide me with a computer, office accommodation and the other necessities for doing my work. I had to provide them myself. The positive outcome of this was that I still had these things available when I became unemployed.
Computer technology changes rapidly. Now as a long-term unemployed computer professional, I could not keep my skills up to date without my computer. So if I am ever to work again, I must maintain a fully up to date operational system.
A personal computer should give at least 5 years of trouble free service. However, it will probably only remain current technology for 3 years. Unlike most things, personal computers have dropped in price. A professional level of machine at the time of this budget cost £1,500. I had to minimise cost. I would therefore have to forego replacing my machine just because its technology became obsolete. I would have to use it for the whole of its operational life. To do this I would have to set aside £300 a year.
As a programmer, my computer is the one vital tool of my trade. Failing to keep it functional would be like chopping off the hands of a skilled craftsman so that he could eat while unemployed. I would from that point onwards become rapidly left behind by technical development with little prospect of ever catching up again.
Before I became unemployed I had membership of three professional institutes. I was forced to give up my fellowship in one of them specifically to save money. Another one kindly allowed my membership to be regarded as dormant until I got back on my feet again thereby saving me the cost of the subscription.
However, I kept up my membership of the third. This was the one I considered to be of the greatest value as regarded credibility within the area of work I hoped to re-enter. The subscription of £80 a year therefore appears on my survival budget. Nevertheless, since we still could not make ends meet, I eventually had to let it lapse.